Statesmen Open 2020 with 89-53 Triumph
Oskaloosa–The William Penn women’s basketball team was exceptional on both ends of the hardwood, beginning the 2020 calendar year with an 89-53 Heart of America Athletic Conference victory over Baker Saturday.
WPU (10-3, 6-2 Heart) outshot the Wildcats 54.2%-33.3% and owned a massive 44-25 rebounding edge en route to its sixth-consecutive win.
The sides were even through the first 16 combined points, but the navy and gold closed out the first quarter with seven unanswered points and never trailed again. William Pen tacked on six more points to begin the second stanza for a 21-8 margin and closed out the half on another 8-2 run for a 42-21 advantage over Baker (5-8, 2-7 Heart) at intermission.
A dozen Statesmen got into the scoring column Saturday as the hosts, who tallied 27 second-quarter points, added 26 more in the third. The lead grew to as large as 43 points in a contest that featured 27 made three-pointers; WPU was an incredible 14-for-26 (53.8%), while BU was 13-for-36 (36.1%).
Brenda Pennington (Sr., Hammond, Ind., Psychology) tied for the game high in points with 15 on 5-for-6 shooting (made both three-pointers), while also dishing out five assists. Kate Ylitalo (Sr., Maple Plain, Minn., Biology) was next with 14 points, while Haley Mullinnix (Jr., West Branch, Iowa, Sports Management) managed 13 points; both Ylitalo and Mullinnix hit three trifectas. Mullinnix stole three passes as well.
Makenzie Pezley (Sr., Keokuk, Iowa, Elementary Education) matched the aforementioned duo with a trio of long balls for 11 bench points. Nyachristmas Puok (Sr., Des Moines, Iowa, Biology) was perfect from the field (4-for-4) en route to nine points, while Madisyn Rogan (Fr., Stevens Point, Wis., Applied Mathematics) and Brittany West (Jr., Shakopee, Minn., Sports Management) each added six points. Amanee Clark (Fr., Waterloo, Iowa, Human Services) was good for five points as well.
The Statesmen committed just 12 turnovers, compared to 15 for the Wildcats. They also outscored BU 11-2 at the free-throw line.
“I was very pleased with our effort today,” Head Coach Steve Williamson said. “Our players did a great job talking and moving on defense and that led to transition baskets. We need to build on this effort moving forward.”
Next Up: William Penn travels to Canton, Mo. next Wednesday to face Culver-Stockton in Heart action at 5:30 p.m.
